From 741dafa3d0e525931ef5daf20c247f942404e1b7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Aniket <148300120+Aniketsy@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Wed, 27 May 2026 21:15:33 +0530 Subject: [PATCH] Doc: add guidance on taking over a stale pull request (#13877) Co-authored-by: Thomas S. Binns Co-authored-by: Daniel McCloy --- doc/development/contributing.rst | 46 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 46 insertions(+) diff --git a/doc/development/contributing.rst b/doc/development/contributing.rst index d149e4368ca..8b73ed716ad 100644 --- a/doc/development/contributing.rst +++ b/doc/development/contributing.rst @@ -663,6 +663,52 @@ change, and append additional PR numbers in parentheticals with the ``:gh:`` rol Short description of the changes, by `Firstname Lastname`_. (:gh:`12346`) + +.. _taking-over-a-stale-pr: + +Taking over a stale pull request +-------------------------------- + +If a pull request has been abandoned, someone else can take it over. A PR is generally +considered abandoned when there have been no commits for several weeks, and the original +author has not already indicated that they plan to continue at a later time. In this +case, first ping the author in a comment on the PR, asking if they intend to continue +working on it. If the original author replies that they do not intend to continue the +work, or there is no reply after at least 2 weeks, you can take over the PR. + +To build on top of the original author's existing work, you can add a copy of the branch +they were working on to your fork: + +.. code-block:: bash + + git remote add original-author https://github.com/original-author/mne-python.git + git fetch original-author + git checkout -b some-new-feature original-author/some-new-feature + +You can then push any further commits to, and open a PR from, this new branch on your +fork. + +Reference the original PR number in the description of the new PR (e.g., "Closes +#12345 (supersedes)"), and keep any links to the corresponding issue (e.g., "Fixes #12340"). + +Before the PR is merged, make sure the original author is credited for their existing +work. To credit them in the documentation, add their name to ``doc/changes/names.inc``, +if not already included, and add them as an author in the changelog entry, e.g.: + +.. code-block:: rst + + Short description of the changes, by `Your Name`_ and `Original Author Name`_. + +To credit the original author in the code, add their name and email as a co-author to +the end of at least one commit message (e.g., the commit that adds the changelog +entry): + +.. code-block:: rst + + Your commit message + + Co-authored-by: Original Author Name + Continuous integration (CI) and local testing before opening a PR -----------------------------------------------------------------